Mbale has transformed overnight into a fortress of flashing sirens, armed checkpoints, and a staggering presence of security forces as President Bobi Wine’s entourage inches closer to the eastern town.

According to live photos from Mbale, residents awoke this morning to the hum of helicopters, convoys of armored trucks, and a virtual sea of police officers, both uniformed and undercover, scattered across the town’s streets, junctions, and marketplaces.

Photos from Mbale

Eyewitnesses describe a surreal scene: roads blocked with thousands of police officers standing shoulder to shoulder, eyes vigilant, as though preparing for an imminent siege.

This massive deployment of security forces, ordered by long-standing leader Yoweri Museveni, appears to be a last-ditch attempt to stifle the groundswell of support surrounding Wine’s expected visit to Abim.

Bobi Wine, the National Unity Platform (NUP) leader and a symbol of defiance against Museveni’s decades-long rule, has generated unprecedented excitement among Mbale’s population.

Photos from Mbale

By dawn, a “mammoth” crowd of Wine’s red-beret-wearing supporters had surged into the town, their chants echoing through Mbale’s streets like a call to revolution.

From boda-boda drivers to market vendors, the city’s residents have reportedly put aside their daily routines to join the fervor, with many calling it a historic moment of hope and resistance.

Sources within Museveni’s administration confirm that every arm of the country’s security network has been mobilized. Police, the army, intelligence operatives, even civilian informants, are reportedly stationed at every corner, ordered to maintain an “iron-fisted” grip on Mbale and its surroundings.

In a rare move, some security personnel were seen attempting to blend in with the crowd in plain clothes, their presence betrayed only by the earpieces tucked into their collars.

As Bobi Wine’s convoy approaches, tension fills the air. Supporters grow louder, and the sight of Mbale’s streets filled with red makeshift barricades erected by authorities has only heightened the resolve of Wine’s backers.

Mbale waits with bated breath, prepared for either a groundbreaking moment of unity or a powder keg of confrontation.